Student Haiku Contest 2025
Application Period: January 1 - March 3, 2025
Eligibility: Any teacher can enter his or her students’ haiku poems. (We have discontinued the former eligibility requirement of attending an instructional workshop. This contest is open for every teacher who wants to enter.)
Regulations: Only poems that have not been previously published or submitted to a contest are eligible. Each student may submit up to three haiku, but no teacher may submit more than 40 poems from his or her students.
NEW - English and French Haiku from college students This year, we are excited to accept Haiku submissions in English and French from college students! Please note that all submissions must be made by college instructors or professors; individual students cannot apply independently. Please submit entries to the College/Teacher divisions. If we receive enough submissions, we will create separate categories specifically for college students in both the English and French divisions.
Submission:
Submission Format: Haiku entries must be organized by division, with each division compiled into its own separate document. Entries from different divisions (e.g., Middle School and High School) cannot be combined in the same file. You may upload up to five separate documents, each representing a different division, within a single submission form.
Submission Files: Please Read Carefully!
To ensure proper formatting for contest submissions, please compile all the haiku entries from the same division into a single file. The pages should be organized as follows:
- Page 1: Haiku of the first student
- Page 2: Personal information of the first student
- Include:
- Student name (First, Last)
- Grade
- School name
- City and state
- Teacher name
- Include:
Example:
Taro Smith, Grade 9
United Nations International School, NY
Teacher: Ms. Hanako Yamada
Page 3: Haiku of the second student
Page 4: Personal information of the second student
Repeat this pattern for each subsequent student.
Important Note: When printed double-sided, this arrangement ensures that each haiku will appear on the front side and the corresponding author's information will appear on the back.
How to name files: Please name the document in the following order.
Language/Division/-teacher's name
Examples: English Elementary division Haiku = eelem-teacher's name (e=English) (elem= Elementary)
Japanese Middle school division Haiku =jmid-teacher's name (j=Japanese) ) (mid= middle school)
French High school division haiku = fhs-teacher's name (f=French) (hs = high school)
Italian High school division Haiku = ihs-teacher’s name (i=Italian) (hs = high school)
Spanish SDG Haiku = ssdg-teacher's name (s=Spanish)
File format:
Please use one of the following formats, google doc, word, or PDF.
If you are a PC user and have trouble uploading word, please choose one of the following:
Option 1 - upload your word document in google drive and upload the file from there.
Option 2 - upload the files as PDF.
Submission file format:
Please use one of the following formats, google doc, word, or PDF, when you upload the files. If you are a PC user and have trouble uploading word, please choose one of the following:
Option 1 - upload your word document in google drive and upload the file from there.
Option 2 - upload the files as PDF.
Divisions:
English (4 divisions): Elementary (1-5), Middle School (6-8), High School (9-12), College / Teacher
French (3 divisions): Elementary School (1-6), Middle & High School (7-12), College / Teacher
Italian (2 divisions): Elementary School (1-6), Middle & High School (7-12)
Japanese (5 divisions): Elementary (1-5), Middle School (6-8), High School (9-12) , College, Teacher division*
*There has been interest in the Japanese college division. College students are welcome to submit their Haiku to the Japanese teacher division.*
Spanish (2 divisions): Elementary School (1-6), Middle & High School (7-12)
Other Languages (Arabic, Chinese, and Other) No division
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) division (English, French, Japanese, Spanish)
Awards Ceremony: Saturday, June 7, 2025
Venue: UNIS
24-50 FDR Drive, New York, NY 10010
Please fill out this survey form
Further questions: nectjapanese@gmail.com and mmasuya@unis.org
Organizers: UNIS Japanese Program, UNIS English Department & Northeast Council of Teachers of Japanese (NECTJ)
Sponsors: Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations, United Nations International School, Kodansha America Inc., Kodansha International, Japan Publications, Japan Trading, Red Moon Press, The Heron’s & Japan Foundation